Our Impact
Success Stories
Company: $1+ billion – Interactive Software
Business IssueActions TakenResults
Business Issue:
- Company experienced on-going deductions from key customer due to unresolved EDI and labeling issues
- Another key customer deducted over 6,000 individual claims which were felt to be invalid, but needed to be researched
- Deduction reporting from company’s financial software was limited and did not provide management with visibility to the information necessary to understand recurring issues, or evaluate deduction performance.
Actions Taken:
- Created and managed cross-functional team to resolve compliance issues.
- Worked together with trading partners to create & execute recovery strategies / settlements.
- Redesigned reason code structure and implemented Business Intelligence software to provide robust, user-friendly reporting and “data mining” capabilities without manual reentry.
Results:
- Collaboration between company and trading partners led to over $1.5 million in settlements as well as improved customer relationships
- The open deduction balance > 90 days was reduced by 80%.
- Improved visibility to deduction information – weekly and monthly Flash Reports & Scorecards prepared for senior management.
Company: $1+ billion – Educational Toys
Business IssueActions TakenResults
Business Issue:
- Company had experienced large chargebacks from key customers due to shipping problems at a new warehouse
- Certain open chargeback balances were quite aged, due to difficulties in resolution and cross-departmental cooperation across multiple departments
- Chargeback reporting from company’s financial software was limited and did not provide management with visibility to the information necessary to understand recurring issues, or evaluate deduction performance.
Actions Taken:
- Redesigned reason code structure and implemented Business Intelligence software to provide robust, user-friendly reporting and “data mining” capabilities without manual reentry
- Created and executed resolution / recovery strategies for key customers, through cross-departmental involvement.
- Created a Claims Department to focus on chargeback prevention / resolution
- Increased accountability by developing and documenting task lists.
Results:
- Focused efforts by cross-departmental team led to the recovery of over $2 million from key customers within the first 8 months
- The open chargeback balance was reduced by 80%.
- Improved visibility to chargeback information – weekly and monthly Flash Reports prepared for senior management.
- Improved relationship with key customers due to open dialogue and joint “clean up” efforts.
Company: $100+ million – Home Furnishings
Business IssueActions TakenResults
Business Issue:
- Insufficient deduction reporting resulting in poor senior management visibility to recurring deduction issues.
- Limited accountability and cross-functional cooperation leading to minimal prevention efforts and ineffective recovery strategies.
Actions Taken:
- Developed improved deduction reporting using company-owned reporting tools. Focused on top / recurring deduction issues & customers as well as tracking performance over time.
- Created cross-functional steering committee to focus / prioritize improvement efforts and foster ownership and accountability.
- Developed recovery and prevention strategies for key customers, including preparation of settlement meeting packages, negotiation training and identification / resolution of key issues.
Results:
- Initial settlement meetings with key customers resulted in recovery in excess of 100% of disputed deductions (due to partial recovery of valid deductions where “fixes” can be shown).
- Implemented revised allowance policies which can reduce deductions by >$500K.
- Reduced the time it took to process and research deductions by 75%
- Implemented process changes to “fix” recurring deduction issues which had resulted in >$250K of chargebacks during previous 12 months.
Company: $600 million – Apparel
Business IssueActions TakenResults
Business Issue:
- Company had ineffective processes & procedures in place to resolve and manage deductions. It took up to 1 month after a deduction was received for reason code to be identified and entered into the system
- Deduction reporting was limited and did not provide management with visibility to the information necessary to understand recurring issues, or evaluate deduction performance. In the COO’s own words: “I don’t sleep at night because I don’t know what kinds of deductions are out there.”
Actions Taken:
- Developed detailed policies and procedures by reason code for collectors to follow when researching deductions. Provided improved policies and training on identifying and classifying deductions.
- Implemented Business Intelligence software to provide robust, user-friendlyreporting and “data mining” capabilities without manual reentry
Results:
- Focused efforts by senior management using improved reporting capabilities led to the recovery of over $1million within first year
- Reduced the time it took to identify unknown deductions and get them properly coded in the system by 50 – 95% (15 – 30 days)
- Revised policies and procedures reduced collector workload 30-40% by eliminating non-value added activities.
- Visibility to information vastly improved. In the COO’s own words: “I don’t sleep at night because I know exactly what kind of deductions are out there.”
Company: $125 million – Apparel
Business IssueActions TakenResults
Business Issue:
- Company had over $3.3 million in open deductions
- Limited visibility to issues – 66% of open deductions were coded as “unidentified”
- Minimal reporting capabilities to track and manage deductions
Actions Taken:
- Redesigned and remapped reason codes for deduction information electronically received from factor
- Implemented Business Intelligence software to provide robust, user-friendlyreporting and “data mining” capabilities without manual reentry
- Facilitated cross-functional group review open deductions by reason and develop specific recovery and prevention strategies.
- Developed collector procedures for reviewing and analyzing new deductions.
Results:
- Using improved reporting information, over $100K in delivery related deductions was recovered within the first 3 months of implementing improvements
- Root cause analysis resulted in process improvements which prevented close to an estimated $50K in ASN deductions annually.
- “Unidentified” deductions were reduced to 3% of open deductions
Company: $150 million – Consumer Electronics
Business IssueActions TakenResults
Business Issue:
Large volume of chargebacks > 120 days. Initial review identified the following:
- Chargeback reporting was manually prepared and too limited to allow for adequate tracking and root cause analysis – losing $ on potential recovery & prevention
- Cycle times to process physical returns were often 90+ days
- Only 1/3 of allowances and “program” discounts were processed at cash application requiring non value-added follow up for approval
Actions Taken:
- Implemented Business Intelligence software to provide robust, user-friendlyreporting and “data mining” capabilities without manual reentry
- Facilitated cross-functional returns team to identify & implement process improvements including RMA pricing and customer “keys” to facilitate matching
- Identified opportunities to increase “same-day” clearing of allowances and programs
Results:
- Open chargebacks > 120 days were reduced by 60% within the first 3 months of implementing improved reporting, due to visibility of information and focused recovery efforts. Ability to easily create standard and ad hoc reports.
- Reduced cycle time to process physical returns for key customers to < 30 days. Allowed faster follow up / recovery of pricing discrepancies.
- “Same-day” clearing of allowances and program deductions increased to 85%. Invalid program deductions quickly identified and resolved. “Cleaner” A/R